Chapter 21: Raising Lanterns, Parading Spirits, and Killing People

Chapter 21: Parading Lamps and Invoking Gods, Moving to Kill

The territory of the Great Ming Empire was extraordinarily vast; setting aside the various Major Criminal Zones, the heartland governed two Capitals and Thirteen Provinces.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard, as the intimate violent apparatus directly subordinate to the Palace, had historically operated only within Shuntian Prefecture of the Northern Zhili, investigating civil and military officials, safeguarding the capital's security.

Unless a major case implicating court ministers or imperial relatives was involved, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, by convention, would basically never appear in Chengdu Prefecture, let alone establish a permanent institution there.

At that time, if the Embroidered Uniform Guard wished to deal with a minor local clan like the Gu Family of Yizhou, they could simply fabricate a trumped-up charge and uproot it entirely.

There was no need for the current step-by-step maneuvering, treading on thin ice.

All turning points occurred in that party strife which erupted in the court ten years prior.

Ten years ago, the current Sage Emperor Jiajie had just ascended the throne. The Eastern and Western Depots, whose power already showed signs of decline, seized upon the unstable court situation to join forces and attack the New Donglin Party.

The two sides traded accusations, drawing out a 'Grand Court Debate' that lasted a full half-month.

The Eastern and Western Depots exhausted their foundations, yet still suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the New Donglin Party. The Directorate of Ceremonial, along with the 'Three Offices and One Bureau' internally established within the two Depots, were all disbanded.

Their elite experts were either imprisoned or fled into hiding. The names marked for execution by the Grand Secretariat's vermilion brush spanned dozens of pages.

The Imperial Academy's two major departments, Investigation of Things and Extension of Knowledge, consequently reclaimed a vast number of valuable research specimens.

The two Supervisors who had once wielded immense authority were also stripped of their consciousness and cast into the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Prison of Shuntian Prefecture, their sentences indefinite.

The Imperial Prison was a place far more terrifying than the Ministry of Justice's dungeon with its millet-dream misery; silent and soundless, without up or down, no alternation of day and night, no perception of time's passage.

In such an environment, the prisoner's consciousness remained absolutely lucid at all times, suffering torment in endless nothingness.

Even masters of the Buddhist and Daoist sects, famed for being utterly ruthless and desireless, would soon have their wills tortured into idiocy once trapped within.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard, in cahoots with the Eastern and Western Depots, originally could not escape the fate of being purged in this upheaval.

Fortunately, Emperor Jiajie wrote the four characters 'The Embroidered Uniform Guard is Blameless' with his own imperial brush. The victorious New Donglin Party, unwilling to tear faces with the new Emperor over such an irrelevant bonus, allowed the Embroidered Uniform Guard's establishment to be preserved.

Alas, the death penalty was spared, but the living penalty was inescapable.

The surviving Embroidered Uniform Guard, maneuvered by the New Donglin Party, were broken up and scattered, personnel exiled to all corners of the Empire, thoroughly losing their voice in the court.

After these vicissitudes, the Embroidered Uniform Guard's authority and energy were a far cry from before, presenting a scene of decline like the sun setting in the west.

The hatred between the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Confucian aristocratic clans could not be overstated even if described as deep as the abyssal sea.

..............

"So Yu Kou had you approach Gu Yong to plant you inside the Yizhou Gu Family as an inside man. Lying dormant for ten years, the Embroidered Uniform Guard finally couldn't hold back and wants to move."

Crow Hua's tone was bleak; even as a mere lowly commoner, he smelled that bloody scent reverberating between heaven and earth when wind and rain are about to rise.

Under an overturned nest, how can there be intact eggs.

If the Embroidered Uniform Guard truly intends to join hands with the Daoist Gate to stir up this storm, the first to be drenched by the downpour will still be ordinary people like them.

"If I die, leave Chengdu Prefecture as soon as possible."

Li Jun committed every word of the message on the tablet to heart, returning it to Crow Hua. He reached out and patted the other's shoulder, then strode away from Crow's Clinic.

Behind him, Crow Hua retreated slowly, wanting to lean against the wall to steady himself, yet still could not stop sliding down, finally collapsing onto the ground, his gaze fixed blankly on Li Jun's departing back.

"Don't enter Sichuan when young, don't leave Sichuan when old; I've bet my entire net worth on you, don't let me down!"

At that same moment, on the tablet fallen at the old man's feet, the displayed time ticked to the fourth quarter of the Zi hour.

A desktop pet identical in appearance to Crow Duoduo jumped onto the screen, its little face bearing an extremely solemn expression, slowly unfurling the yellow scroll in its hands.

"Eleventh Year of Jiajie, First Month, Eleventh Day. Auspicious for Parading Lamps and Invoking Gods. Inauspicious for Moving to Kill."

Childish words rang clear, chilling intent rising in waves!

................

"Raise the lamps, the Gods are rising!!!"

With a loud, resonant chant, dozens of sturdy men, stripped to the waist, roared in unison, lifting the bamboo poles thick as bowls in their hands.

A bamboo dragon stretching over a hundred zhang rose sinuously; the red silk wound around its body danced ceaselessly in the wind.

In its massive claws it clutched a giant dragon pearl a zhang in diameter; the lantern fire swayed, rising on the wind.

It was still dusk, but the shops on Jiulong Street had already lit the neon signs on their plaques; colorful lights gradually illuminated both sides of the street, guiding the way for the dragon lantern.

The shantytowns and tenement buildings in the depths of the street also hung red lanterns; every household pasted inverted 'Fu' characters on their doors, the entire block permeated with a soaring festive atmosphere.

"The dragon lamp rises, the Gods walk!"

Behind the red wandering dragon, specially made large carts slowly started moving.

On the cart beds stood carved towers and painted rafters, green tiles and flying eaves. There were Confucian pavilions, Daoist spirit palaces, and Buddhist temples.

Though all were handcrafted, not a single one lacked vivid realism.

Ferocious Vajras and Golden-Armored Divine Officials accompanied them left and right; the men hidden within performed with all their might, spare no effort in displaying the Gods' majesty.

Luan birds equipped with levitation devices on both wings cried long in the air, their long feathers shimmering in the evening sun's afterglow.

Children wearing Sanxingdui masks chased after the comically cute Electric Third Prince with a head as big as a bucket.

Officials baring their teeth walked at the very rear of the procession, suppressing all demons and monsters.

Every household, supporting the old and leading the young, donned their most presentable clothes, applauding and cheering for these floats originating from the Empire's far south and north.

Li Jun stood in the crowded throng, quietly watching the eerie scene of Gods and humans walking side by side, enjoying the tranquility before the storm's arrival.

"Gods walk, the world is at peace!"

The parade reached its climax; the crowds on both sides raised their hands high to the firmament, shouting in unison: "Gods bless, the world is at peace!"

"Gods bless, the world is at peace!"

Sound waves surged like tides, clamor rising to the heavens.

"Mom look, someone's running on the Dragon King's back."

The woman praying devoutly was suddenly startled; she looked down with a stern face, her son wearing a Great Sage Equal to Heaven mask tugging her clothes excitedly.

The Dragon King is made of bamboo; who can run on it?

The woman didn't think, just slapped a violent chestnut onto his head, "You little bastard not praying properly, screaming what? Careful I'll skin you alive when we get back..."

"It's real, and not just one, there are several."

Little Great Sage covered his head, still wanting to argue; seeing the woman's eyebrows shoot up, he hurriedly hugged her thigh begging for mercy.

The woman coldly snorted, pressed her palms together again, and continued devoutly, continuing to worship the passing Gods.

Once his mother started praying, Little Great Sage sneakily fished out a tiny snap-cracker the size of a pinky finger from his pocket and smashed it hard onto the ground.

"Dare run on the Dragon King's back, blow you little fleas to death!"

Pop!

BOOM!!!

A massive explosion shook heaven and earth; scorching heat waves carried a suffocating might.

The red dragon's spine was blown apart from the middle; flying shrapnel and bamboo splinters instantly pierced through over a dozen men carrying the dragon.

The originally festive red silk became the best fuel for fierce flames; thick black smoke rapidly spread across the street.

Themighty host of deities scattered like birds and beasts in an instant, the air rent with heart-rending cries and wretched screams.

"Has the Dragon King truly been enraged?"

Little Great Sage stood dumbstruck at the sudden, thunderous roar, straining to look up and see if the Dragon King had truly lost his temper, only to find pitch darkness before his eyes.

A black-clad figure blocked his path, parting the surging crowd like a reef amidst a torrent.

"Great Sage, shall I go deal with those fleas for you?"

Little Great Sage couldn't understand a word the man was saying, yet the title 'Great Sage' sounded incomparably sweet to his ears; the eyes behind his mask curved into crescent moons as he shook his head with a grin.

Just as he was about to coax the fellow into saying it again, he suddenly felt himself soaring aloft on clouds and mist, snatched into his mother's arms the moment she came to her senses, fleeing toward the distance.

Li Jun glanced back at the black speck leaping between the towers far away, a cold smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"As you command."